Pension scam in Medical college in Asom

Guwahati, Sep 5 (UNI) Asom police have blown the lid on a pension scam in the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) with the arrest of five people.

The people,arrested in the scam so far, have been identified as Ranjit Kumar Deka, Deputy Superintendent of the institution-- Joinal Hussain, Upper Division Assistant-- Sanjib Majumdar, senior Accountant in the office of Accountant General and two sweeper supervisors of the GMCH Srichand Valmiki and Amarjit Singh.

The police said a group of sweeper supervisors in the GMCH in collision with a section of staff in the institution, Treasury and the Accountant General's office had been running a racket-- withdrawing pension under fictitious names--since 1995.

The modus operandi was a section of sweeper supervisors in the hospital who used to provide photographs and death certificates of persons, claiming that they had been sweepers at the GMCH.

On the basis of these certificates, the establishment and pension branch of the hospital would forward the files to Accountant General's office for approval and preparation of the pension payment order. The pension orders were then sent to treasury for payment.

''More arrests of GMCH employees are expected,'' the police said.

However, one of the main accused and a former sweeper supervisor of the GMCH, Moonga Singh, had managed to procure anticipatory bail and last year.

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